


On Night's Wings

by TheHaven



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dick Grayson is Robin, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Short Stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-10-02 06:12:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17259029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHaven/pseuds/TheHaven
Summary: 'Come with me,Take the leap,You’ll fall,But I promise,I’ll catch you.'On Night's Wings is a collection of Dick Grayson bits that don't really fit into anything else. So are really short while others might end up being long.





	1. Chapter 1

The cool air of the dark Gotham night flows through his hair as he sticks his head out the window in the middle of a high speed chase, they were on the trail of Killer Moth, a lame thug with an even lamer gimmick. Atleast, that was what Dick thought. Why would you want to be a moth? Those things always just fly into the light. Not the brightest little bugs. Which, now that he thought of it, fit him. The batmobile swerves from side to side to dodge gunshots and grenades.

Adrenaline. It’s what's going through Dick Grayson’s body. And it’s amazing.

“We got em now, Batman!” He shouts out to his partner. The dark knight of Gotham city. The Batman himself. The flat black cowl masking his face was focused on the swerving car in front of them. And a small grin creeps up his face.

“That we do, partner. That we do.” He agreed as he slammed a foot on the gas pedal. The wind picks up faster and faster and Dick has to pull his head back inside the car so as to not lose his domino mask. 

“Heh, might wanna keep this.” He said as he adjusted it. “Stay on em!”  
He slams on the gas again as the car zooms past the traffic and is already right behind the Moth’s getaway van. They had just come up on Gotham city bank when a tire from the Moth’s car blew. A well placed dart had done the trick. The car spun around out of control before stopping just inches away from the stairs of the bank. 

“Now, we got them.” Batman said as he opened the door and stepped out to greet the onlookers that had gathered around. Moth, on the other hand. Had made it about four feet from his car before throwing his hands up in the air.

“Oh, forget it.” He sighed. And sat himself down on the stairs. Batman raised a hand to wave at the onlookers as he put the cuffs around his wrists. 

Another night in Gotham city.  
\----

 

 

“Hey, love.” Dick whispers to his wife as they wake up together. The sun shines into her orange skin and right into his eyes. She stretches and her hair is in all in his face. It’s routine at this point. The morning rituals, the “good morning, love”s. The sun, the hair. All of it. Now there was something else missing…

Deet deet deet.

Ah, there. Mar’i. Almost a little late. He grabs the communicator and brings it between them.   
“Hey dad! Hey mom!” She says with the trademark excitement that she's taken on ever since she’d gone exploring.

“Good morning, Starshine.” They yawn together. His face is still buried in her hair. “Where are you this week?”

“Rann!” She answers. “We’ve been bringing supplies for the past day and a half. Earthquake really did a lot. And some of the league is here too. Even Damian! I didn’t expect him to be here.”

Damian? Huh, that's a surprise. Though he has been taking his league responsibilities more seriously. 

“Nightstar! We don’t have time for chit chat! Bring those cases up to that building!” He hears over the communicator.

Ah, that’s better. Good old Damian.

“Okay, okay! X’hal, your brother is very bossy, dad.” she sighed.  
“I know starshine, I know.” He sighs back.   
“Love you.” She says as she clicks her communicator off.  
“Love you too.” they say together before he rests back against her hair. 

This, is everything to him. His wife laying by his side. His daughter out in the world, saying safe and making it safe for others. He’s happy.   
\----


	2. Chapter 2

There’s a clearing of his throat before he tries to sound as serious as he can, for a thirteen year old boy. 

“I’d like to call the first meeting of the Teen Titans to order!” He says just loud enough to get the attention of the other four. Wally was trying (and failing) to turn on the charm with Donna. Roy was still trying to get Garth to hold still. “It’s not gonna hurt if you don’t get hit!” he tried to assure. For some reason it didn’t work. Dick clears his throat in an attempt to get their attention.

“AHEM!” He shouts. Wally was the first one to move from his spot. He went to Dick and put a shoulder on his arm. “Hey, dude. We need to talk.” He said quietly and motioned to the other room of their small cave. As they walked Dick felt an Wally’s hand on his back, pushing him just a little faster into the room. He closed the door behind him. 

“What are you doing?” Wally asked.  
“What do you mean? I was gonna start a meeting. Like the leag--”  
“We’re thirteen! Thirteen year olds don’t do meetings!” Wally’s tone was like he was almost at the end of his rope. His shoulders relaxed and put a hand through his hair.  
“Look, buddy. I get it. You want to be like them, we all do. But… We’re not ready to be them. I think we’d all much rather just, hang out. Y’know?”

Maybe it was being with Bruce too much. He always had a serious way of doing things.   
“You’re right, Wally. Sorry.” he apologized.  
“Don’t mention it, bud. Just learn to relax a little, ‘kay?”  
“‘Kay.”

This is the past. Being a kid, in a crazy world.


	3. Chapter 3

“Mar’i? What’s wrong, Starshine?” Dick asked his daughter as she wiped her nose and eyes, she had been crying. She looked up at her dad, her emerald eyes welling up with tears.  
“I had a nightmare again.” She admitted. Dick sighed, this was a common occurrence lately, the crisis had been dealt with. With Dick, Batman, and Kory all working together to reverse phantom zone projector. Kory had almost died from the sheer amount of energy she had exerted to hold it in place, Bruce had been in a coma for a few days. Dick on the other hand, had come out relatively unscathed. He sat himself down by his daughter on her bed. 

“It’s okay, Starshine.” he assured. “They’re just dreams.” he told her.   
“But it happened!” she cried as she buried her face in his shoulder.  
“I know. It did. And we came out okay. We got hurt a little bit, but that’s what happens when you’re helping people, you put yourself between them and the bad stuff.” He explained.  
But that wasn’t helping Mar’i tears started streaming down her cheeks again.

“Hey, hey! It’s okay! I’m right here, not going anywhere.”   
“But what you are gonna go! You’re gonna go out and help people and you’re gonna get hurt and i’m gonna be scared an--”  
“Mar’i, Mar’i.”

 

She stopped talking and let the emotions come over her, more and more tears were staining Dick’s clothes as she cried.

“Hey, I have an idea.” Dick said. Mar’i lifted her head up to see.  
“How about, since me and mom are too banged up to do any superhero stuff, we go to Tamaran? For a little while. You can fly with your cousins and me and her can relax.” He suggested.  
“Would you like that?” 

Mar’i nodded weakly. “Uh huh.”  
Dick sighed a little. “Good. we can pack tomorrow. But let’s get some sleep.” he said. Mar’i  
Relaxed a bit and let herself lay against the sheets. But she was still shaking against her blanket.

“Here,” Dick said. “I’ll sit right here, until you fall asleep. Would that help?”  
She nodded again as she grabbed her stuffed animal and shut her eyes, the shaking slowly subsiding.

Dick sat there. Hopefully this would be something she would grow out of. But can you really grow out of this? Of being scared about what could happen? No, you couldn’t. You could only accept it. And take the leap.

“Come on,” he hummed under his breath.  
“Take the leap,  
You’ll fall,  
But I promise,  
I’ll catch you.”


	4. Fathers and sons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the cowl weighs down on Dick Grayson, this is one of those times.

“Hey, Bruce.” Dick says to the suit behind the glass case in front of him.  
“Patrol was… phew, it was brutal tonight. Think I’m getting too old for this, heh. But no uh, I uh. I’m just, talking out loud now. I remember when you told me that when your mom and dad died, you still talked to them. About anything and everything. So I figured that I could start talking to you. Y’know?” He tells the empty suit where a man once stood. If he squinted hard enough he could still see him. Stoic. Noble. Standing perfectly straight, with a presence that demanded attention. But could also disappear at any moment. One quick look away and he could be gone. 

In the reflection, Dick saw himself. With his own cowl matching the one Bruce had worn. It was a lighter blue, he felt he wanted to add something distinctly “Nightwing” to the suit, the blue in the cowl and cape matched the bird that he had worn on his chest for years. Looking closer he saw the bruises on his face, the split lip dripping blood. The cracked whited out eye revealing his bright blue eyes.

“Did Croc always hit that hard?” He asked. “Used to feel like a truck. Now it feels like a train. Maybe he’s using venom? Oh my god! Could you imagine?! That’d suck. Like some big super crocodile that you see on those bad horror movies we’d watch after a long night on patrol.”

“I miss those.” His shoulders sank. He pulled off his cowl, black hair half covering his eyes. Rubbing the side of his head he let out a sigh as he sank into his chair. “I’ve had trouble taking this off lately.” He admitted. “Cause, I dunno. It feels like I’m not doing enough, y’know? Like this standard that you set, I haven’t reached it yet.” 

“I don’t think I can be Batman, Bruce. I’ve done it before. But not for this long.”  
There’s a silence that fills the cave, only being interrupted by beeps of computers as Dick sits in the dark. He brings his neck up, shakes his head a bit.

“But enough about me. Your other son is doing pretty well. He’s been a lot calmer recently. Hard to understand, I know. Alfred suggested painting as pastime for him a few weeks back. He’s even got a room upstairs for it. 

They’re pretty nice too. He painted a robin sitting on a branch. One of Ace, remember Ace? He was the best dog. And he painted one of me and you. You’re, you’re standing tall and proud and I have this stupid grin on my face.”

“It’s like old times. Y’know? Batman and Robin. Dynamic Duo.”

“Father and son.”


End file.
